Recent reviews by desk.0

Very mild, vague spoilers ahead:

Just completed my first playthrough and I (mostly) loved this game to bits. One of the most unique outings I've seen all year. The visuals, the music, the sound engineering... the atmosphere and presentation in general, it's all immaculate. Loved the puzzles and the secrets and the overall mystique of everything. It kept me guessing and had me wondering what all the possibilities were. The gameplay is very addicting. The difficulty, the progression system, and the rogue-like aspects all combine to create a gameplay cycle that is hard to put down. Well... for the first act.

My biggest complaint by far is the story. I can see how some people would find it to be very appealing, but I thought it was messy and dated. Or perhaps just not executed in a way that is compelling for modern standards. It's got a creepypasta way of feeding it to you with some somewhat awkward pacing and timing. I wish I felt that it hit its mark, but for me it just missed. Increasingly so as the story went on. Not sure how else it could have been done, however I almost feel like I would've preferred more of it to be buried in mystery with massive craters for plotholes for me to fill up using my own imagination.

The game was also longer than I first anticipated. I was impressed at first by the length until it started to drag towards the end. Again, the unraveling plot line was not doing any magic on me. And additionally, some of the gameplay mechanics were being switched up as I progressed. Not in ways that added layers of depth, necessarily, but just changed how some card battles were played fundamentally. I don't know, some would say it keeps things fresh but it actually started to feel less fun and satisfactory as I pushed on.

Overall, I was so impressed with the first act that I will continue to do at least one more playthrough... I will also keep a close eye on updates or DLC in the future. I would recommend this game to nearly anybody because of just how unique and endearing it is. Clearly a ton of love and care was put into it, and I certainly got my money's worth.

Upon first playthrough, my feelings go as such;

Act 1: 5/5. Phenomenal. It has my heart. Started off SO strong that the lackluster ending doesn't even irk me as much as it should.

Act 2: 4/5. Pretty neat. Kept me curious and on my toes.

Act 3: 2/5. Yeahhhh wellllll... I don't know, it just fell apart for me.

I would hesitantly recommend this game to others... with plenty of stipulations. Lots of text below. Read at your own discretion.

I am usually not one to stray away from a challenge in video games. I've been playing video games actively for about 21 years now... yet my first few runs of this game would lead an onlooker to think I just picked them up last month. This game can be VERY brutal and unforgiving.

On maybe my 8th restart on a server, things weren't looking much better for me. Still had a lot of trouble scraping by and surviving without reasonable weapons or food to live off of. I had put too much time in and was concerned I could not get a refund for my purchase. I was losing interest and was about ready to throw in the towel if I couldn't make any more progress than my last attempts. I was already maybe 10 hours in with little fun or satisfaction from my play time. However, I found another player this time and quickly exclaimed to him that I was friendly and I tried to strike up a conversation. I was mostly clueless and was hoping to find somebody else that was not hostile to team up with. Luckily, he did not shoot me on sight and we agreed to form a little alliance. We both had things to teach one another about the game and we are both more experienced and knowledgeable now. We are probably about 16 hours in since meeting as strangers now and we are without a death. Some serious close calls, though. And we made it all the way to the most dangerous and fruitful military base in the Northwest where we had a near 40 minute showdown. It ended with us on top and some great loot to take away from it all. This run and that specific encounter solidified my newfound appreciation for the game. It was so exhilarating and unique to what else I've experienced in even Battle Royale titles. An unmatched sensation. My new buddy and I are now reasonably geared and we are moving on to the next step of building a stronghold and hopefully finding new players to recruit into our team. I no longer regret my purchase.

Pros:
- Not the most incredible graphics, but they somehow nailed the sound design and the lighting. It is genuinely (just about) pitch black when night hits. And when the sun sets behind a treeline and the rays shine through, it is uncanny. Some other games fluff it up too much for eye candy. This game simply captured it, super immersive.

- Really not a lot of *polished* experiences similar to it out there. Maybe Rust or Ark, but I'm more keen on the style of this game. The realism of the atmosphere is much more appealing to me with this style of gameplay. It fits well together.

- I am a fan of the mechanics. Testing your blood type to see if you can donate or receive blood from other players after traumatic injuries. Passing out after falling from a great height and breaking a bone. Handcuffing other players and throwing a bag over their head to interrogate them or keep them prisoner. Using chlorine tablets to clean up suspicious water you found to make it safe to consume. Loading your magazine one bullet at a time and manually placing it into your gun rather than having everything be done at the press of a single key. It takes a while to adjust to it all, but they are all so neat and add layers to keep things interesting.

- The game is constantly being worked on. I'm a new player in 2020 and comparing my experiences to game footage from just a couple years ago is very surprising.

- There are tons of mods to help shape the experience you desire, whether you want strictly PvP or strictly PvE or a sheer survival server. And much, much, much more beyond just that.

- Based off my observations, I think 2020 has been one of the best years for the game yet and I think it is on a fast track to growing bigger and bigger.

Cons:
- Without mods on the base vanilla version of the game, the loot spawns are still a bit extreme for my tastes. And I think they will drive a lot of new players away. It's just harsh to dump hours and hours into a run as a new player only to find a couple guns that I am unable to use. You die very easily, so it can be crushing to lose everything in the blink of an eye without feeling like you had even a chance to defend yourself. It does get easier the further you get, but it is still massively unmotivating to have your high off finding a gun diminish as you loot every drab house in search for ammo to even use the thing.

- The game is priced too high in my opinion. I got it on sale for half off and I was still kicking myself for wasting my money until about 10 hours into my time with this game.

- The game is much more fun with other players to team up with. It is difficult enough to try convincing others to purchase the game. And even if you succeed in that, you both have to spawn in on the same server and try to find one another without dying to the many dangers the game offers. Quite the challenge.

- Most players use a third party map called izurvive. Just kind of lame that a tool like this is so strongly recommended to figure out where you are in the game and better enjoy it. Without this and a compass (that you have to find) in game, it is really tough to decipher where you are as a new player and where to go.

- Lots of bugs. Thankfully, I haven't encountered enough to sour my experience or screw me over in a pinch. Though, I have heard of such bugs tarnishing the experiences of other players.

- A lot of *important* mechanics are not spoon fed to you, so you better do your research online to discover all of them before making fatal mistakes. I've put just as much time into searching things up about the game as I have actually playing it. It's quite the chore. Worth it to me, but necessary to address.

- Lastly, this game takes a lot of patience. Tons of it. With the massive map and low chances of running into a lot of players, to the low amount of loot spawns, to all of the mechanics and tips on how to play the game that need to be researched... this game requires a lot of commitment to be enjoyed adequately.

... I'm about 37 hours in and I believe this game will continue to occupy my attention for a good while with the quality of life improvements that have been implemented to it over the years. I was growing to be a little bored of the disappointing triple A offerings the industry dumps out year after year, so this has been a much needed breath of fresh air and I am thankful I gave it a chance.